Lori J. Paul, AACP

I am a Certified California Paralegal with over 16 years experience in Family Law and Civil Litigation. I love the legal field. I am passionate about learning new and exciting technology, whether for the law office or for my own personal use. My goal with this blog is to provide information and humor to families regarding Family Law matters that will help them understand the legal process as it relates to divorce, custody, visitation and support.

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The Daily Beast has learned exclusively that the beleaguered golfer is negotiating an immediate $5 million payout to his wife—and revising her prenup to give her as much as $55 million more to stay with him two more years.

This article was written by Gerald Posner, who is an award-winning author of 10 investigative nonfiction bestsellers and is The Daily Beast’s Chief Investigative Reporter.

Traditionally it’s a divorce that makes a financial dent for a wealthy athlete like Tiger Woods. But it appears that in Tiger’s case, it’s going to cost him to stay with his wife, Elin Nordegren, the mother of their two children.

In a statement Wednesday, Tiger said, “I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart.” Words are evidently not enough to mollify Elin: The Daily Beast has learned the details of what it’s costing Tiger to keep his marriage intact. A lawyer familiar with the hastily conducted negotiations of the past 72 hours said that as of Wednesday evening Elin has been offered a $5 million payment immediately if she agrees to stay—and her prenuptial agreement is being revised to give her up to an additional $55 million.

There’s a price to having a life turned upside down in the public eye. That’s what the couple is hammering out now.

• Douglas Rushkoff: Tiger’s Digital Sex Trap When the couple married on Oct. 5, 2004, at the Sandy Lane resort in Barbados, Elin signed a prenuptial agreement reportedly worth $20 million after 10 years of marriage, not considered a large payout for someone who was already as successful as Tiger by then. (The tightlipped Woods camp, almost obsessive about releasing any personal information after Tiger’s blundering interviews with GQ in 1997, has never acknowledged the existence of the first prenup, although it’s been widely reported).

But in light of a string of women coming forward to say they had affairs with Tiger since his marriage, Elin has demanded that the prenup be rewritten, Chicago Sun-Times columnist Bill Zwecker reported Wednesday. “The links legend’s spouse is reportedly being paid a hefty seven-figure amount—immediately transferred [sic] into an account she alone controls—to stick with her husband,” Zwecker wrote. “At this point, the couple needed to remain married for 10 years in order for Woods’ wife to collect a splitsville settlement of $20 million. I’m being told that time frame has been shortened—and the dollar amount increased ‘substantially.’”

The lawyer familiar with the couple’s negotiations told The Daily Beast that Tiger also has agreed to shorten the original prenup to seven years from the date of marriage, meaning it will vest in another two. And the revised agreement provides for a staggered schedule of payments spread out over five years that could be worth upward of $75 million. So for Elin to collect $80 million, she’ll need to stay with Tiger another seven years, be a dutiful wife in showing up with him at social events and in public as if they were still the perfect couple, and sign a nondisclosure form that will prevent her from ever telling her story. Even if she lasts only two more years, she’ll still walk away with nearly twice what she was entitled to under the original prenup.

Tiger’s advisers, who have successfully gotten the couple into counseling sessions, believe that keeping the marriage intact will help Tiger keep his corporate sponsors and bolster his dented image. Elin is herself considered a good asset. She’s never been a publicity hound or used her marriage to make money through self-help books, lecture series, or QVC makeup and jewelry lines. Rather, she’s just maintained a low profile and dedicated herself to being a spouse and mother. As opposed to some other celebrities, like Tom Cruise or Angelina Jolie, Elin has never pushed her kids into the public eye. So, now, if she is persuaded to stay, she knows little will be the same. Her quiet life is finished. A Los Angeles-based paparazzo told me that a photo of Elin and the children would fetch $250,000. Some agencies are offering $100,000 just for tips that pay off with photos.

There’s a price to having a life turned upside down in the public eye. That’s what the couple is hammering out now. Since Tiger Inc. is in crisis, it’s likely she will accept a deal rather than allow her anger and sense of humiliation to prevail. The Woods camp is about to pull off the most expensive “stand by your man” stand ever. (Attempts for any comment from the Woods camp were not successful).

Tiger is not the only celebrity who has been caught cheating. He is not the only person who has been caught either.

The New Encyclopedia Britannica reports that, “adultery seems to be as universal and, in some instances, as common as marriage.” In fact, marriage researcher, Zelda West-meads, states that although much adultery is never discovered, “all the evidence points to affairs being on the increase.”

The facts about marital infidelity (sexual unfaithfulness to a spouse) are astounding. Polls show that although 90% of married people disapprove of extramarital relationships, statistics from a national survey indicate that 15% of wives and 25% of husbands have experienced extramarital intercourse. These numbers increase by 20% when emotional affairs and sexual relationships without intercourse are included. Another source, The Monogamy Myth, authored by Peggy Vaughan, approximates that 60% of husbands and 40% of wives will have an affair at some time in their marriage.

Interestingly, marital affairs are not always a sign of a troubled marriage. Some spouses succumb to the lure of an extramarital relationship as the result of experiencing abnormal stress over a normal lifestyle change, such as becoming a parent or an empty nester. So adultery can occur in happy marriages as well as unhappy ones.

So, what we can learn from this, is that we are all human and we will make mistakes. Those in the public eye will make the news and we will all have our opinion about it. What we should remember is, these are two people who married and have two children now. They don’t need us watching their every move and commenting on how bad Tiger is or how dumb she will be to stay with him. How many of us can say we are perfect and never made mistakes in a relationship? Instead, why don’t we learn from this and concentrate on our own relationships and how we can make them better.